


We Must Be Killers

by vallahwillbemyheaven



Series: King AU [4]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: M/M, Sad, lots of death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-24
Updated: 2015-09-24
Packaged: 2018-04-23 05:39:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4865120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vallahwillbemyheaven/pseuds/vallahwillbemyheaven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ray had wanted to go hand out toys and flowers and books to the kids around Achievement City.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Must Be Killers

**Author's Note:**

> Listen to 'I will follow you into the dark' while you read this I dare you.

Most of the general population of the five kingdoms would have been surprised to hear that on that particular morning, Ray had been the first one up and out. Ray had wanted to go hand out toys and flowers and books to the kids around Achievement City, since in the Kingdom of Roses today started off what was known as the ‘Celebration of Imagination’, and ever since the unity of the five kingdoms, that celebration had spread far and wide. Ray had things to set up, children to hand out happiness to, that sort of thing. Michael had actually needed to go see about something stirring up in his kingdom and Gavin had demanded to go with him, because one of them being along for a month would be hell. They had left earlier that month.

So that left the ‘Gents’ kings plus their wonderfully, lovely, and still not accepted by the nobles knight of a husband to wake up in a tangle of bed sheets and a flurry of groans and half muttered complaints. Geoff actually ducked back under the covers, groaning about waking him up later. Ryan just refused to accept the fact that he was awake; not moving, faking a snore, arm thrown over his eyes. It would have been convincing, too, if Jack wasn’t married to them.

Jack got out of bed, on the edge, fighting against Geoff’s very restricting hug to try and make him stay. Instead, Jack just plain pulled the cover off the bed, which was the only thing protecting Geoff’s eyes from the bright window that perfectly cascaded the morning sun onto their bed and directly into the Gents’ eyes because they either slept on the side nearest the window, or slept with the Lads in between them, and they offered no protection really.

After begrudgingly getting out of bed and being force to ‘at least look presentable’ by Jack, they all shuffled out of the bedchambers. Nobles were all walking in the halls, talking in hushed whispers about the sudden uproar of the Principality of Mogar. There had apparently been an attack on the border which, by the Principality’s laws, caused the army to have to deploy without word of their king, which is why Michael had to leave so urgently. The nobles were trying to make the argument that King Ray was behind it, but they stopped talking almost immediately as soon as they saw Jack, Geoff, and Ryan. Ryan made a point to glare at them as they walked past, the right side of his lip turned up in disgust. How the hell the nobles thought Ray, a king who created a celebration for children’s creativity, could be behind any form of attack was beyond them.

None the less, the three made their way into the throne room, where Geoff took his place at the throne to listen to the nobles complain and bicker, Jack took his place standing next to Geoff to suffer through it with him, and Ryan snuck off to go continue sleeping. They were lucky that there weren’t many complaints for the day, and what kept them going was the thought of joining Ray in his festivities for the 4 day long holiday that always seemed to make everything better.

As was tradition for holidays, the throne room doors were for once left open, at least allow Jack and Geoff a view of the city beyond their current confinements. A child ran past the arch that led to the inside of the castle, flying a kite and giggling as her friend chased after her. Geoff, unfortunately, had to focus in on the noble who was complaining about the day’s choice of holiday, since it wasn’t technically theirs to celebrate. Geoff just sighed into his hands.

An hour later, still early morning, Geoff had pretty much zoned out. Jack had too, judging by the look on his face. Both of them had gotten pretty good at being able to hide the fact they had just completely started ignoring whatever the nobles were saying, but there were still ways to tell. Geoff hadn’t even noticed Ryan slipping past the open throne room doors and into the celebration happening half an hour ago.

A very loud scream from outside brought Geoff back to reality, and looking up, he could see pillars of smoke rising in his city, people fleeing in all directions, one of them being into the castle; during times of emergency it was used as shelter due to the sturdiness of the building.

Geoff was stuck in his seat out of shock, hand over his open mouth, eyes wide as he watched the city go up in fucking flames. People were still fleeing into the castle as their homes burnt, though there was no sign of Ryan or Ray yet.

Jack had gone to direct people from the archway and into safer locations, glancing outside about every five seconds to see if Ryan and/or Ray were coming. Already, rumors were springing up about it being Ryan or Ray or even Michael attacking and Jack had to refrain from punching anyone over it.

The guards were closing the gates by the time Ryan came sprinting into view, carrying Ray, both of them looking burned and bloodied. Ryan managed to slide under the closing gate, still holding Ray, with a surprising amount of agility. Jack was on him as soon as he could part the crowd, which didn’t take too long, as everyone in the castle knew Jack needed a direct line to the two of them.

Ray looked like he had been set on fire, clothes scorched, hair singed, skin red and in some places black where the flames had touched it. Ryan was holding the youngest king rather protectively, curled around him as Ray’s face radiated pain. Ryan had lots of small, and for now not worrying, cuts literally his arms and torso.

“I had to pull Ray out from a bunch of soldiers, just so you know,” Ryan said, without looking up from Ray’s face, watching the other biting his lip to keep from yelling out in pain. Jack motioned Geoff over so that he could get both of them to the healer who worked within the castle and the king hurriedly did that, leaving Jack in charge within the main part of the castle.

Jack immediately had the guards move the townspeople into the innermost room of the castle for safety, guards already running around and preparing for battle, guards relaying information to Jack so he knew what the fuck they were dealing with right now.

“Sir, there’s a problem,” said a lower knight to Jack.

Geoff was sat on the floor of the healer’s room, hands folded and resting on his upper lip as he listened to Ray crying out. Ryan was fine, seemingly unharmed after the healer had finished with him, but Ray’s wounds were showing resistance to the magic used by the healer, so Ryan was knelt by Ray’s head, holding his hand. When a body fights off magic like Ray’s was doing, it would increase whatever pain you were feeling tenfold, like Ray’s was doing.

Ray arched off the table, barely managing to contain a scream, the sound choking out a few seconds before it became loud. Geoff cringed at the sound; the healer had to stop because Ray had become unconscious. Ryan scooted away from him to sit next to Geoff, resting his head on the other’s shoulder. Geoff lent his head back on the wall, groaning slightly at the day’s turn of events.

“He was protecting a kid.”

“Hm?” Geoff murmured quietly, looking down at Ryan, whose own voice sounded choked. He quickly pressed a kiss to the top of the other’s head.

“When I finally found him, He was protecting a kid from getting burnt to death with his body. He got hit with a fireball, or something like it, and it ignited the cloak he had been wearing. I almost didn’t reach him in time. I almost didn’t even make it back,” Ryan choked out, rubbing at his neck. “Geoff…The soldiers were wearing the same armor that the knights in Michael’s army wear…”

Geoff sat up straight against the wall, eye’s wide at the new information. A hint of absolute betrayal was in his eyes as he swallowed hard. He refused to believe that Michael could be the one’s attacking them and shut his eyes tight when he felt them watering up.

The whole castle shook suddenly, dislodging loose pieces of wall. Ryan was pretty sure a boulder had just been catapulted into the walls of the building, if the sound of guards’ armor hitting the floor as they ran towards the room where three kings were holed up.

As if on cue from that thought, Jack burst into the room, already in his armor with his sword in his dominant hand. He glanced over at Ray and the two men on the floor could see the frown forming on Jack’s face already.

“You’re leaving. Now. I don’t care where you go, but get out of this fucking kingdom. There’s word from all over that villages are being flattened and borders are being closed off and you have to get out of this kingdom before it becomes physically impossible,” Jack managed clearly trying not to choke up as he spoke. It was in fact Michael’s army attacking them, and Geoff wasn’t the only one of them feeling betrayed. “I already have your horses set up. The townspeople are being led out right now.”

“I am not going to leave you here to fight a battle,” Geoff argued, and he was honestly going to say more, but the sadness on Jack’s face shut him up.

“Just go. Geoff, please, don’t argue with me on this. Just go,” Jack retorted, forcing a sob down. Ryan got up without a word, walking over to Ray and lifting him, which caused the other let out a gasp of pain in his sleep. Geoff sighed, standing up. He only got one glance at Jack before the castle shook again and Jack made sure to rush them out of the room.

“Go! Go!” he yelled, running off in the other direction. Ryan and Geoff took off without thinking about it, Ray groaning every time he was jostled. Ryan, even in the urgent situation, tried his best to slow down or not jostle Ray as much, until the castle shook once more and they found themselves making it outside rather quickly as bits of the castle began to collapse.

The horses were prepared in the ‘emergency spot’, hidden behind a hilly tree and some cliffs that a tower of the castle jutted out of. Geoff mounted his horse much quicker than Ryan, as Ryan also had to sit Ray on the horse.

They were about to take off into the forest surrounding Achievement City when they saw a familiar looking face; Gavin riding up, his robes covered completely in blood. Gavin was holding tightly to the horse, eyes red and puffy and tears still flowing from them.

“Gavin? Where’s Michael? Where are you hurt?” Geoff worried, getting off his horse and running over to the man when he collapsed off of his own.

“S’not…S’not my blood…” Gavin whimpered, shaking in Geoff’s arms. Geoff’s eyes went wide at the implication of the blood not being Gavin’s and held the young man tighter.

“As soon as we were in court, they butchered him. Ripped him apart with horses and strung up his head. I tried to get here sooner, but the countryside is teeming with the army and I just,” Gavin faded off, sobbing into Geoff’s shoulder brokenly and shaking. “I barely got past the border patrol they’ve set up.”

Geoff shushed him gently, pressing a comforting kiss into his temple. Knowing Michael was dead sent Geoff’s stomach into knots and his heart into pain. With a border patrol set up, it meant that they’d have to hide somewhere within the kingdom, instead of being able to escape and actually get a strategy. Not to mention Jack was probably sacrificing his life so they could get away and now they were screwed.

Ryan glanced over to Geoff before glancing at the hidden passage they used to get out here. If they could go in, maybe they could at least get Jack away, not have to worry about finding him after a battle. Geoff seemed to agree.

“Gavin, we’re going to go back for Jack…Stay here, alright?” Geoff said, gently picking up the shaking lad to set him down next to where Ryan had put Ray after it was discovered that they wouldn’t be riding off ‘valiantly into the woods’.

Gavin nodded and Ryan used an invisibility spell he knew to cloak the two lads. It was relatively weak, and Ryan warned moving around too much would cause it to wear off before the two older went back inside for Jack.

They found him in a heated sword battle in the hallway, pressed up against the window and just trying desperately to fight the man off him. Ryan was quickly working out a very complicated illusion spell, trying to cast what was basically a spell of confusion onto Jack’s opponent while Geoff drew his sword.

They were both shocked to see a sword plunge through Jack’s armor and into his stomach, the force of it breaking the window behind him and sending him down into a lake next to the castle. Geoff ran up behind the murderer so quickly, Ryan was pretty sure the man’s spirit couldn’t register he was dead. Geoff looked out the broken window to see Jack floating in the water with a sword through his gut, dead through a combination of hitting the water and being puncture. Geoff let out a cry of anguish, but Ryan was quick to grab him and pull him away, lest anyone see them up here. They’d have a problem on their hands then.

They were quick to be outside once more, Ray now awake. Ryan quickly lifted the invisibility spell of earlier to put Ray on his horse with the older man, Geoff doing the same with Gavin.

They were left to wait out a war that eventually expanded the Principality of Mogar and killed them all, with no answers as to why.


End file.
